GH: July 2024 Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Soaps have been hard hit ever since the Pandemic began but GH has had it worse than any other!!! 

[DRW50]

Lynn Herring shares some memories of working with Richard.

https://people.com/general-hospital-star-recalls-working-with-richard-simmons-on-soap-exclusive-8677726

[Vee]

I thought his appearance in 2013 was strange and off-putting at the time tbh but I am glad they had him back. He was such a life force.

When this story started in March I was among the few open to the idea of Heather being softened and made into sort of a kooky talk-to for Laura, a la Alley Mills' role on B&B. (And I agree Mills' early turns as Heather were spookier and less OTT than her more recent stuff pre-hip.) I thought it might be an interesting use of the Webber family history and a surprising and unconventional turn for what had become a one-note psycho, though it was always controversial. But now it's all Laura does, it's incredibly unpopular with the audience and Trina can't buy airtime. Just send Heather off to rehab her life somewhere else, I'm done with it.

The fact that Mills apparently cites Chris Van Etten as co-HW again in her new interview about the storyline and working with him on it also has not gone unnoticed by me.

[Aragorn]

I am committed to the Heather storyline and think it will lead to positive and entertaining results.

[Liberty City]

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[Khan]

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[ranger1rg]

Agreed, and don't forget that while Laura works overtime on Heather's case, she stopped talking about her son Nicolas -- the son she insisted go to jail for his crimes.

 

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[Taoboi]

7-1 

 

Well due to today's morning news, goodness knows I need to distract my mind for a bit. So where is a good place to start, but my catch-ups. Since I have been watching, but just busy.

 

That said...when it comes to GH...the clock is ticking on PM's name coming off the screen. So coming into July, it occurred to me, that hatred aside, PM got to finish two stories in this too-brief run.

 

ALEXIS THE LAWYER IS BACK!! I've said before that I loved that Alexis was starting to want to get her license back. So it has been great watching her journey. Watching her doubts. The twists and the turns...and in spite of pacing during PM's run it DID have them. I liked it all. I was sad watching Alexis quit (though I love the Sean mention) because I would have loved to have seen her balance her lawyer with the Intruder. But it was a nice cap on a good story.

 

FINN'S SPIRAL. The best story that this version of Michael Easton's character has ever had. Not only is Liz free to be with Jason someone, but it did what I hope that PM's run would do. One thing that his run did was move people into different positions and new directions. Very much Douglas Marland's Rule-ing. And I'm saddened we only hit PM's middle of his arcs. I also mentioned that it looked like he was writing people in directions that appeared to be aiming them at exit storylines. I would point to Finn, Valentin, and Ava for this. And I also said given how the majority of the people posting would love that (especially in Val's case, Ava...not so much) that was not a bad thing. So it was nice to see one of those theorized exits happen. And you know what? It was a good one. There was one week where Finn's storyline was the clear A storyline, and it was interesting enough to carry all the way with one day where it was the background while the other stories took the stage...like how soaps used to write. I thought that was well done. And while I know thoughts over ME's acting is mixed, I really thought he did a great job. The only problem I saw with his storyline is keeping Violet here. I feel safe saying Finn is gone gone so I expect when he is well, Violet might be sent off. So another good end to a storyline. 

 

Not looking forward to PM's name vanishing. And it looks like glancing at what's above this post (wow...you all already at 20 pages!!), it looks like there is some un-doinging of what PM might have been planning. Like Heather, who I said they could use this reset to make her calm, but cunning as the Heather of old I heard so much about. But sounds like they want to go left. 

 

And another false note, Ava burning her bridge with Trina. I just did not see her using Trina to get to Sonny. Ava usually keeps Trina away from her cunning/scheming stories. So I was shocked. That said....it's nice to have a clear (but still complex) villainess running around Port Charles again. 

 

 

[Contessa Donatella]

[Aragorn]

I don't want Nikolas anymore. He got to be on in this decade. I want Lucky, Lulu, and Ethan.

[Taoboi]

Agree. As much as I like Adam Huss...we are loooooooooooooong overdue some appearances (and good stories) for Lulu and Lucky.

 

 

[dc11786]

I've caught up with everything but Friday so some of this will probably be from the end of June. 

Finn's departure worked well even rushed. I do still think there was story left to tell with Alexis/Finn as Finn continued to spiral and Alexis became more attached, while Tracey became more judgemental due to her feelings for Gregory. I feel this would have played nicely with the battle over Gregory's literary legacy, which I imagine will also not continue past the initial seeds planted the week that Gregory died. 

Brook Lynn and Chase with Violet at least has given the couple some sort of obstacle to deal with even though I don't feel they will get the kind of mileage out of it that I suspect. I think there would be some meat to explore about either Brook Lynn or Chase deciding to put off having children because they either feel overwhelmed by Violet (who wouldn't?) or because they realize that they just don't want to be a parent. 

Jane Eliott continues to bring class, grace, and snark to everything Tracey does. Eliott's scenes with Sam McMurray were very touching. Lots of seeds have been planted for Tracey in the last few months. I am (foolishly?) hoping that something happens with them in the coming months even with Mulcahey out the door. 

I was surprised that they jumped into Drew and Willow so quickly, but not disappointed. I do think the general arc for Willow since Korte and Mulcahey have taken over is that Willow has become bored with life (hence the decision to change her career). At the time, I didn't understand the thwarted sex scene between Michael and Willow back in May, but I do think there it was suppose to emphasis how Willow's domestic life has impacted her sexuality. I think there is space to explore how Willow loves her children but doesn't want to only be seen as a parent, and that's how I feel Michael sees her. Though, that last part really hasn't been explored in the scripts. Drew is a Quartermaine hoe and I hope that he continues in the vein of early 1990s Ned. I also hope that the Chelsea Grimes character makes her way on screen and is a complete hot mess. 

The reveal about Mac being Cody's father worked well considering it was coming off a strong week of episodes. I definitely think Mac would admire Cody's lifestyle as that was Mac back in the day pre-Port Charles. The Cody / James scenes were sweet. I definitely think with how they have positioned Sasha in the Drew/Willow situation that the plan is (was?) Sasha / Michael as a counter fling, which I think would have allowed what I suspected was a Cody / Tracey situationship to play out. There's a lot of potential on the canvas, probably too much with such a large cast.

I have little to say about Trina / Gio / Joss / Dex other than it seems to me that someone wants Gio / Joss, which I don't think is interesting. When they changed Joss' major, I assumed she would become Jenny Eckert 2.0 and become involved with the Greenbelts (or a modern equivalent) who were protesting the rejuvenation project involving the waterfront leading to some sort of violent episode requiring sanctimonious Joss to have to keep quiet about her own involvement in a violent episode keeping a major secret form her cop boyfriend, especially if whatever incident was set up by Ava trying to frame Sonny. Clearly, I was on the wrong page. 

I think Trina / Gio could have had some conflict if they kept Trina alligned with Ava as the custody suit ramps up, but I don't think that's the angle they are exploring. The actor playing Gio is too young to be playing 21. He seems like he should be eating Aiden's cupcakes. I think Trina has some interesting space to explore, but I am not seeing that onscreen. 

The Pikeman stuff never really works for me. I think Anna and Valentine's back and forth has potential, but I also just can't be bothered. I don't find Jason the most appealing character, though he is better than I expected. Sam and Carly was a delight. I thought that was an interesting angle to play. I do think we will learn that Ava is behind the FBI recording because all things evil lead back to Ava apparently. I do feel like the plan was to write out Jagger when this arc was over even though they seem to continue to chemistry test him. I don't feel there is much of a commitment. 

I didn't have the intense negative reaction that seemed to sweep a good chunk of the board regarding the fall out of Kristina and Blaze and the tape. Ultimately, I think there are severe flaws in the story that fall down, for me, into two categories: (a) censorship and (b) nuances in scripts. When the original conversation between Ava and Natalia happened, I felt like it was played as a bigger moment than it was. I suspect that Natalia's language was suppose to be more openly homophobic than what it was, which would have triggered an actual conversation. Given that the bullying plot for Aiden was dropped quickly, I have to wonder what level of discomfort the network is expressing regarding gay content. Furthermore, some of the issues result from mediocre scripts. I know some have stated they were better than they were, but they still aren't strong enough. Blaze and Kristina both outlined why they might lose their jobs before they did. Kristina is highly underqualified for her position so the center deciding that they were going to dump her with online activists pushing her out because they didn't see her as taking a strong enough stance on advocacy makes sense. If Kristina isn't going to stand up to her girlfriend's mother, who will she stand up to? Blaze states before her contract is terminated that she would be losing her contract because she lied, not because she was gay. Personally, given the insane amount of stipulations regarding media in the Deception contract, I have to wonder if there isn't the same amount in Blaze's recording contract and the company wasn't willing to play with Natalia in terms of having Blaze do media. 

I do think I wouldn't have rushed to do both job losses in one week. I would have played the media angle first with Blaze being asked to denounce her mother and her either having to finally stand up for herself against her mother or to continue to allow her mother to control her. 

The fallout for Natalia doesn't seem as hefty as it should, but the right people are hating her so I don't really mind. I think there are attempts to layer Natalia's homophobia in a way that would be worth exploring further. Natalia's root issue with homosexuality is that she was raised to believe it was an illness. Given the deeper conversation about mental illness that should be ongoing on this show given Marshall's racist diagnosis, Heather's metallosis impacting her court decision, and the tampering of Sonny's bipolar mediation, adding a more meaningful view about this would be fitting. It would also allow the canvas to address that even though Natalia is claiming she is think its a sickness, her language is inflammatory and it reflects back on her own character. 

I think the more problematic piece remains that they are pushing Natalia and Sonny as a thing. I also don't know why I am suppose to like Natalia when the only person supporting her is dealing with undermedicated (soon to be unmedicafted) bipolar disorder while saying he accepts Natalia's homophobia because it was similar to him beating the crap out of a young man without provocation. I really wish they had just had sent Sonny to prison at the same place that Finn became an alcoholic and was sent to rehab.

Sonny and Ava were already gearing up for custody battle so I don't think the optics are Ava is worse than Natalia. Also, they've pretty clearly say that Ava is Sonny's target because he hurt his daughter, but I do agree that Natalia's words are ultimately what did that. I think the act was suppose to be impulsive on Ava's part because Natalia was slowly pushing her out of Sonny's life, but I would have had Ava at least try and claim that Pikeman had been bugging Sonny's apartment and was sowing discord throughout Sonny's world in order to prevent him from focusing on the gun running. 

I'll be quickly to see what happens once Mulcahey's name is no longer in the credits.

[Vee]

Oh, you!

[DRW50]

@dc11786 What a detailed rundown of the current show. I always appreciate how you offer suggestions and analyses to plots that often just aren't what they could be (on old soaps or now). Your rundown reinforced for me that there are a few genuinely decent or possibly even good stories on the show right now even with the myriad issues. Meanwhile, there are others I just do not care about and never will (like Sonny or Sonny/Natalia or whatever is going on with Ava) that tend to get much of the fan focus, often very negative (the other being the stuff with Gio/Trina/Joss/Dax that is as you mentioned severely underwritten and marred by casting issues and agendas).

As you and others have said, the Heather story would make more sense if it involved something beyond Laura fighting for her and B-characters (that's how the show sees them) half-arguing against her before mostly backing down. Beyond Sasha, who should be involved, there's also Jason and Drew. She killed Britt, someone Jason cared about, and she is Susan Moore's cousin - I'm sure that would be a campaign issue for Drew now that he's running for Congress. 

I never thought the show would pull the trigger on a Cody/Tracy pairing, even if Mulcahey had stayed, but it would definitely add a lot of layers if Sasha does end up being drawn to Michael again. And it would be a first for Tracy - I guess there was Paul, but no matter how attractive he was meant to be he was just a cardboard cutout. It's more like the type of fling Monica used to have, if only Leslie was able to get to react to that part of the story.

[Vee]

I've been catching up as well. I think the promising stories and elements are fading fast and I'll be dipping out soon (til Jonathan Jackson shows up), but I am glad Willow/Drew/Nina is still a thing for now. Sasha will never be a compelling option for me for Michael though, and frankly they need to write him out for a few years and recast.

I do think there was something there with Cody and Tracy under PM - both early on when she began using the stables more and more, and then when she actively compared him to a young Gregory. I can't see the network or FV going for it these days though.